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| [[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/travel/charles-darwin-cape-verde.html?smid=em-share&unlocked_article_code=1.Nk0.-syP.Ts7M2JzisDfv&utm_source=pocket_saves|View Original]] | [[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/travel/charles-darwin-cape-verde.html?smid=em-share&unlocked_article_code=1.Nk0.-syP.Ts7M2JzisDfv&utm_source=pocket_saves|View Original]] | ||
| - | {{https://pocket-image-cache.com//filters:format(jpg):extract_focal()/https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/01/13/travel/00CAPE-VERDE-btjk/00CAPE-VERDE-btjk-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale?nolink&}} | ||
| Charles Darwin was 22 years old when he first peeled a banana. “Maukish & sweet with little flavor,” he noted in his journal from Santiago, the main island in the Cape Verde archipelago off the coast of West Africa. He preferred oranges and tamarinds, feasting at every opportunity on tropical fruit after three awful weeks at sea. | Charles Darwin was 22 years old when he first peeled a banana. “Maukish & sweet with little flavor,” he noted in his journal from Santiago, the main island in the Cape Verde archipelago off the coast of West Africa. He preferred oranges and tamarinds, feasting at every opportunity on tropical fruit after three awful weeks at sea. | ||
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| Today, Cape Verde is an independent nation of 10 islands and nearly 600,000 citizens speaking Creole and Portuguese. Tourists from Europe usually head to Sal and Boa Vista, where resorts partition white-sand beaches; adventurous visitors climb the active volcano on Fogo or celebrate Carnival on São Vicente. | Today, Cape Verde is an independent nation of 10 islands and nearly 600,000 citizens speaking Creole and Portuguese. Tourists from Europe usually head to Sal and Boa Vista, where resorts partition white-sand beaches; adventurous visitors climb the active volcano on Fogo or celebrate Carnival on São Vicente. | ||
| - | More Cape Verdeans live on Santiago, though, than any other island. The architecture, music and cuisine blend West African and Portuguese influences: In the capital, Praia, you can snack on papaya from the market or pastel de nata, a Portuguese custard pastry,// //from a bakery. | + | More Cape Verdeans live on Santiago, though, than any other island. The architecture, music and cuisine blend West African and Portuguese influences: In the capital, Praia, you can snack on papaya from the market or pastel de nata, a Portuguese custard pastry,from a bakery. |
| Santiago stood out to me ever since I read Darwin’s life story. I wanted to see the island that inspired him to become the scientist we celebrate today. So, last March I checked into the [[https://hotels.cloudbeds.com/reservation/ajn7W4#checkin=2023-07-26&checkout=2023-07-27|Boutique Hotel Praia Maria]], a simple hotel on Rua 5 de Julho, a pedestrian boulevard in the Plateau, Praia’s historic center. | Santiago stood out to me ever since I read Darwin’s life story. I wanted to see the island that inspired him to become the scientist we celebrate today. So, last March I checked into the [[https://hotels.cloudbeds.com/reservation/ajn7W4#checkin=2023-07-26&checkout=2023-07-27|Boutique Hotel Praia Maria]], a simple hotel on Rua 5 de Julho, a pedestrian boulevard in the Plateau, Praia’s historic center. | ||
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| Eager to see where the Beagle docked, I made my way down the boulevard, past the cafes serving cachupa, a stew of corn, beans and root vegetables, and square sobrado townhouses with painted shutters and open doorways revealing shelves of groceries and souvenirs. The road led through the main square dominated by a colonial church to a cliff-top promenade with a statue of the Portuguese explorer Diogo Gomes presiding over the harbor. | Eager to see where the Beagle docked, I made my way down the boulevard, past the cafes serving cachupa, a stew of corn, beans and root vegetables, and square sobrado townhouses with painted shutters and open doorways revealing shelves of groceries and souvenirs. The road led through the main square dominated by a colonial church to a cliff-top promenade with a statue of the Portuguese explorer Diogo Gomes presiding over the harbor. | ||
| - | A modern port operates now on the harbor’s eastern edge; the Beagle’s base was an islet in the center, which Darwin called Quail Island and is known today as Ilhéu Santa Maria. On the harbor beach, some fishermen agreed to take me to the islet by boat. While they cracked tiny clams with rocks and ate them raw, I gazed into tidal pools with carpets of pink and green coral. It was in pools like these that Darwin found octopuses that changed colors and seemed to glow at night. He wrote a mentor in England describing his first big discovery — only to learn later that the octopus’s** **powers of camouflage were already** **well-known. | + | A modern port operates now on the harbor’s eastern edge; the Beagle’s base was an islet in the center, which Darwin called Quail Island and is known today as Ilhéu Santa Maria. On the harbor beach, some fishermen agreed to take me to the islet by boat. While they cracked tiny clams with rocks and ate them raw, I gazed into tidal pools with carpets of pink and green coral. It was in pools like these that Darwin found octopuses that changed colors and seemed to glow at night. He wrote a mentor in England describing his first big discovery — only to learn later that the octopus’spowers of camouflage were alreadywell-known. |
| ===== A budding geologist? ===== | ===== A budding geologist? ===== | ||
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| After three weeks on Santiago, the Beagle’s captain no longer worried about Darwin’s resolve. “A child with a new toy could not have been more delighted than he was with St. Jago,” he wrote. Darwin, writing in his diary, was itching to forge ahead: “I am becoming rather impatient to see tropical Vegetation in greater luxuriance than can be seen here.” | After three weeks on Santiago, the Beagle’s captain no longer worried about Darwin’s resolve. “A child with a new toy could not have been more delighted than he was with St. Jago,” he wrote. Darwin, writing in his diary, was itching to forge ahead: “I am becoming rather impatient to see tropical Vegetation in greater luxuriance than can be seen here.” | ||
| - | When the Beagle// //returned to Santiago nearly five years later, at the end of his journey, Darwin devoted only a few paragraphs in his journal to the visit — including a mention of “our old friend the great Baobab tree.” | + | When the Beagle returned to Santiago nearly five years later, at the end of his journey, Darwin devoted only a few paragraphs in his journal to the visit — including a mention of “our old friend the great Baobab tree.” |
| But years later, writing his autobiography as an old man, the island shined brightly in his memory: “How distinctly I can call to mind the low cliff of lava beneath which I rested, with the sun glaring hot, a few strange desert plants growing near, and with living corals in the tidal pools at my feet.” | But years later, writing his autobiography as an old man, the island shined brightly in his memory: “How distinctly I can call to mind the low cliff of lava beneath which I rested, with the sun glaring hot, a few strange desert plants growing near, and with living corals in the tidal pools at my feet.” | ||
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